What 2013 holds for Social Media Marketing (SMM)

So am here thinking if this is how 2012 has been with Social Media, what does 2013 have in store for us and how will it affect our work and brands. I have consultanted my best friend Google and he gave me a lot of review from Mashable to Social Media Examiner but then I found Bryan Brown of SilverPop that I have summarized below in relation to our own brands here in Uganda.In 2013 Social Media will not be looked as a stand alone channel, it will begin to be integrated in to all other channels like Public Relations, Customer Care and Marketing. This will be due to clients becoming more social on both mobile and PCs plus because of the holistic experience with your band.When you look at the following channels social media is impacting today they can be used to impact your customer relevancy to your customer’s experience because these are going to be intensified in 2013.Social media as we know it is driven by content and it is likely to continue like that in 2013 though this time it will be uniquely customer and prospects relevant. Personalisation will be the best way to go with brainstorming and adding behavioral marketing elements in to brand campaigns and connect content with social conversations. This means that if @MTNUGANDACares continues leading its social media like its doing now we will have #occupyMtn back again next year except if brainstorming is employed.You better consider getting mobile apps for your company next year because the increase in the use of social media on mobile, is going to go higher because everyone wants to have their favorite site with them on the go. For you as a brand and company this increases engagement with growing numbers of mobile app users. It is going to be tough getting customers to download your app but those who download it are rated as the most critical drivers of future downloads. An app email welcome program might be needed, used to educate users on how to get the most out of your app thus increase customer satisfaction and boost rating. Its nice that @Airtel_Ug uses whatsapp for customer care but it would make more sense if it developed its only app that can carter for a lot more than what whatsapp does.With the way searching is evolving, now days it takes one specific word to have links on a number of related words, thanks to my best friend Google he knows where to find all these links but if search engine algorithms don’t favor you in the social media work, you got no retweeted content, no traffic driven to your blog post, your ranks are going to decrease. So next year brands, companies and personal accounts have to work on re-tweeting, sharing and driving traffic on their social media sites to appear in my best friend’s search engine. Don’t forget about relevant videos cause these too appear in searches.Websites will need to connect with social media with a social “follow” icon here, a “share this” graphic there this is done to build trust in the social data. So add some information about the number of downloads, user ratings and customer comments beside your content or products. Even if you loss some control over the message that is what social media marketing is all about, sharing the opinions of the other buyers thus enhancing visitors experiences and ultimately building trust in your brand. I have seen this on @Solar_Sister, @UgoUganda.Now lets get our sail boat in to 2013 with an idea of how we are winning that year over to us; in Social Media Marketing as brands, companies and personalities.Good Luck.

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is a Social Media, Content Creator and Marketer at Kahill Insights.
A Development Practitioner who has no self talent but is driven by curiosity and passion; in a nutshell she is a Multipotentialite. She believes in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit which makes her a Christian.